The rebels mixed threats and temptation with propaganda and psychological warfare as they took city after city – some with barely a single shot fired – eventually capturing the capital, Kabul.
How did this happen?
As foreign troops began their final withdrawal in May, Washington and Kabul were confident that Afghan forces would put up a strong fight against the Taliban.
With more than 300,000 personnel and multi-billion-dollar equipment more advanced than the Taliban’s arsenal, the Afghan army was formidable – on paper.
In fact, they were plagued by corruption, poor leadership, lack of training and falling morale over the years. Desertions were common and US government inspectors had long warned that the force was unsustainable.
Afghan forces put up strong resistance this summer in some areas such as Lashkar Gahi in the south, but now they have to face the Taliban with regular US airstrikes and without military support.
Faced with a small but highly motivated and united enemy, many soldiers and even entire units simply desert or surrender, leaving the rebels to capture city after city.
The seeds of the collapse were sown last year when Washington signed a deal with the rebels to fully withdraw its troops.
For the Taliban, it was the beginning of their victory after nearly two decades of war. For many frustrated Afghans, it was betrayal and abandonment.
He continued to attack government forces but began to associate those with targeted killings of journalists and rights activists, creating an atmosphere of fear.
He also carried the narrative of the Taliban’s inevitable victory in his propaganda and psychological work.
Soldiers and local officials were reportedly bombarded with text messages in some areas urging them to surrender or cooperate with the Taliban to avoid a worse situation.
Many were offered safe passage without fighting, while others arrived through tribals and village elders.
With the Afghan army unable to stop the Taliban’s advance, many of Afghanistan’s famous – and infamous – warlords mobilized their militias and promised to keep a black eye on the Taliban invading their cities.
But with the government of Afghanistan confident in its ability to survive, no objection to stopping the insurgents, the handwriting was on the wall even for the warlords.
Their cities fell without a fight. Sardar Ismail Khan The Taliban had captured the western city of Herat as soon as it fell.
Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohamed Noori fled north to Uzbekistan, as their militia members left Humvees, weapons and even their uniforms on the road outside Mazar-i-Sharif.
The Taliban began arranging a deal and surrender long before the start of their attack in May.
From individual soldiers and low-level government officials to apparently provincial governors and ministers, the insurgents pressed for a deal – with the Taliban all victorious, but why fighting?
The strategy proved to be very effective.
The photos of his final march to Kabul were not of bodies in streets and bloody battlefields, but of Taliban and government officials sitting comfortably on couches as they formalized the handover of cities and provinces.
The Afghan government could fall in 90 days, according to US estimates, less than a month after the fall of Kabul, according to a report.
But once the Taliban captured its first provincial capital, it took less than two weeks.
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